Saturday, September 24, 2011

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

MATTHEW 21:28-32
WHEN I WAS LITTLE, LONG BEFORE VATICAN II, WE CATHOLICS LIVED IN A VERY CERTAIN WORLD. WE WENT TO CONFESSION AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH, SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WE WOULD STAND IN LINE, AND WHISPER OUR SINS TO THE PRIEST. WE WOULD LEAVE CONFESSION FEELING VERY LIGHT AND HAPPY. WE WOULD GO TO MASS THE NEXT MORNING, AND FEEL RELIEVED THAT WE HAD MADE OUR SUNDAY OBLIGATION, THUS AVOIDING MORTAL SIN FOR ANOTHER WEEK. IF WE STILL HAD SOME "STAIN OF SIN" ON OUR SOULS, AND WE DID, BECAUSE THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE GOT YOUR SIN FORGIVEN, BUT NOT THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, WELL, WE COULD GAIN A FEW INDULGENCES, SOME FOR 300 DAYS, SOME WHICH WERE "PLENARY". OBVIOUSLY THE PLENARY ONES WERE BETTER THAN THE 300 DAY ONES. WE IMAGINED THE HEAVENLY COURT MADE UP LARGELY OF ANGELIC ACCOUNTANTS WHO KEPT CAREFUL TRACK OF OUR MERITS AND DEMERITS, AND OF COURSE COMMITTING A MORTAL SIN SET US BACK TO ZERO, EVEN IF WE GOT FORGIVEN. SOUNDS SILLY? WE BELIEVED ALL OF THIS, BUT WE STILL BELIEVED IN GOD'S MERCY, IN HIS UNMERITED GRACE, AND THE EFFICACY OF THE SACRAMENTS. BUT THE EMPHASIS WAS ON WHAT WE DID.
IN THE MEANTIME, I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HOW MY PROTESTANT FRIENDS, (AND I WAS JUST A KID) COULD BLOW OFF SUNDAY SERVICES. OF COURSE, IN MY HEART I SUSPECTED THAT THEY WERE ALL GOING TO EITHER CONVERT EVENTUALLY, OR END UP IN HELL, OR THROUGH SOME RARE MIRACLE OF GOD'S GRACE, GET TO HEAVEN DESPITE BEING HERETICS. I HOPED FOR THE LAST. AS I GOT OLDER, I LEARNED ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER, AND HIS IDEA THAT FAITH ALONE WAS WHAT SAVED US; WORKS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. AND AS I GOT STILL OLDER, I WOULD RUN ACROSS A CHRISTIAN WHO HAD NO CONCERN AT ALL ABOUT ACTIONS WHICH I WOULD CONSIDER SINS, BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN "BORN AGAIN" OR HE HAD BEEN "SAVED" BY BELIEVING ON (NOT IN) JESUS.
IF YOU STUDY THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, THIS IS ONE OF THE MAJOR DIVIDING LINES. IS IT FAITH THAT SAVES? OR IS IT WORKS? LISTEN TO PAUL: IF, IN FACT, ABRAHAM WAS JUSTIFIED BY WORKS, HE HAD SOMETHING TO BOAST ABOUT--BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. WHAT DOES THE SCRIPTURE SAY? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." PAUL SEEMS TO CLEARLY BELIEVE THAT ABRAHAM WAS NOT JUSTIFIED BY HIS WORKS, BUT BY HIS FAITH. AH, BUT LISTEN TO JAMES: "WAS NOT OUR FATHER ABRAHAM CONSIDERED RIGHTEOUS FOR WHAT HE DID WHEN HE OFFERED HIS SON ISAAC ON THE ALTAR? ...YOU SEE THAT A PERSON IS CONSIDERED RIGHTEOUS BY WHAT THEY DO AND NOT BY FAITH ALONE."
AND TODAY WE HAVE TWO BROTHERS; ONE OF WHOM DOES WHAT HE IS ASKED TO, AND THE OTHER OF WHOM GIVES THE RIGHT ANSWER, BUT DOESN'T DO WHAT HE IS ASKED TO. WHO IS JUSTIFIED? THOSE WHO HEAR JESUS REPLY, "THE FIRST ONE". BUT JESUS GIVES AN AMBIGUOUS ANSWER; HE MENTIONS THE TAX COLLECTORS AND PROSTITUTES, WHO CLEARLY AREN'T OBEYING THE LAW OF GOD; AND SEEM TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY BELIEVE, NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY DO.
THIS GREAT DIVISION IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, A DIVISION THAT SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN THERE FROM THE BEGINNING, CONTINUES TO SEPARATE CHRISTIANS TODAY. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE LUTHERANS FORMULATED A STATEMENT THAT BOTH COULD AGREE UPON, BUT BOTH ENDED UP WRITING SEPARATE DOCUMENTS ABOUT HOW THEY UNDERSTOOD THE STATEMENT, AND THE TWO DOCUMENTS ARE INDEED DIFFERENT.
SO WHAT IS IT? FAITH? WORKS? WHAT IF WE BELIEVE? AFTER ALL, THERE ISN'T ANYTHING WE CAN DO THAT CAN BRING ABOUT OUR SALVATION; NOTHING WE DO HAPPENS WITHOUT GOD ANYWAY. SO WHY DO? WHAT IF WE DO, AND DON'T BELIEVE? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT AND DOING WHILE BELIEVING? OR IS THERE SOME COMPROMISE? BUT WE KEEP FACING THAT SAME DILEMMA; IF WE ARE SAVED BY WHAT WE DO, THEN DID JESUS' SACRIFICE MATTER? BUT IF WE ARE SAVED BY WHAT WE BELIEVE, THEN CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING WE WANT SINCE WHAT WE DO DOESN'T MATTER?
I THINK THERE IS A POINT IN THE GOSPEL STORY WHICH WE OVERLOOK. EACH OF THE BROTHERS, APPARENTLY, CHANGES HIS MIND. THE FIRST BROTHER, OF COURSE; HE SAYS ONE THING, AND DOES ANOTHER. AND I DON'T THINK THE SECOND BROTHER IS LYING; I THINK HE MEANT TO GO OUT AND WORK IN THE VINEYARD, BUT CHANGED HIS MIND. AND MAYBE THAT IS THE REAL MESSAGE HERE; YOU AND I HAVE TO CHANGE OUR MINDS. BECAUSE I CAN GUARANTEE THAT I AND YOU AND OUR PASTOR ARE NOT WHERE WE SHOULD BE IN TERMS OF EITHER OUR FAITH OR OUR WORKS. AND NEITHER WILL SAVE US, ONLY JESUS WILL SAVE US. AFTER ALL, BELIEF, OR FAITH, IN THIS CONTEXT IS MORE THAN JUST AN INTELLECTUAL ASSENT. IT IS ACCEPTING THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS IN OUR LIVES, WITH ALL THAT THIS MEANS FOR US. AND IF WE ACTUALLY ACCEPT HIS AUTHORITY, THEN WE IMITATE HIM, WE PUT ON CHRIST, WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. AND IF WE DON'T HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST, THERE IS ONE WAY TO GET IT -- TO DO THE WORKS HE WOULD DO IF HE WERE YOU AND I, AND INDEED, IN A SENSE, HE IS. WE BELIEVE; WE ACT; OUR BELIEF INCREASES; OUR ACTIONS BECOME MORE FINELY TUNED, MORE IN KEEPING WITH THE ACTIONS OF JESUS IN THE WORLD; AND ONE FEEDS ON THE OTHER UNTIL WE HAVE REACHED WHAT GOD WANTS OF US, WHICH IS TO BECOME HIS OWN DEAR SONS AND DAUGHTERS -- BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF JESUS HIMSELF. DOES FAITH LEAD TO WORKS? OF COURSE. DO WORKS LEAD TO FAITH? OF COURSE. IT ISN'T THAT WE SHOULD HAVE ONE OR THE OTHER; IT IS THAT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND WORKS IS DYNAMIC, AND IF ONE DOESN'T LEAD TO THE OTHER, THEN SOMETHING IS WRONG.
SO WHEN WE HEAR THIS GOSPEL WE SHOULD LOOK INTO OUR OWN LIVES AND WONDER WHERE WE ARE ON THIS DYNAMIC PATH. WE AREN'T TO ASK WHETHER WE BELIEVE RIGHTLY, OR WHETHER WE CARRY OUT OUR DUTIES PROPERLY; WE ARE TO ASK WHETHER THERE IS ONGOING CONVERSION, WHETHER THERE IS DEEPENING OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND WITH OUR NEIGHBOR. FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD; WORKS WITHOUT FAITH IS DEAD. WE CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS NEED TO CONSTANTLY TAKE STOCK OF WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE ARE GOING; BECAUSE THE REAL POINT IS THAT IF WE AREN'T CONTINUALLY MOVING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN FAITH AND WORKS, THEN WE ARE DEAD.